Spanish right wants separate stats collection for nationals and foreigners

"Spain's two main right-wing parties PP and Vox have publicly endorsed the idea of national stats bodies differentiating between foreigners and Spaniards when it comes to data collection in a bid to ascertain their contributions to the country. Spain's main opposition party - the centre-right People's Party (PP) - continues to push its new 'tough on migration' stance, this time supporting the idea of separate data collection for foreign residents and Spanish nationals, something which doesn't currently exist in some public administrations."

"Valencia's right-wing coalition government want to measure each group's contribution to the state, the benefits they receive, how much time they miss from work, and how they use emergency medical services. They argue that many public institutions separate data on people by gender, so it should be also based on nationality. It is not uncommon to see claims on social media and articles in the Spanish right-wing press suggesting that migrants take more than they put into 'the system',"

"fake news which is regularly debunked by fact-checking sites such as Maldita.es. For example, a study by the University of Cartagena found that immigrants contribute 70 percent more to the State than they receive, and 30 percent more than those born in Spain. Similarly, research by Spain's Ministry of Inclusion found that migrants use Spain's public health system less than nationals."

PP and Vox back separate data collection by nationality to assess foreign residents' contributions, benefits received, work absence, and emergency service use. Valencia's right-wing regional coalition seeks to quantify each group's impact on the state and argues that nationality should be treated like gender for statistical purposes. The proposal originated with Vox and is being promoted within PP's tougher migration platform. Claims that migrants take more from the system circulate on social media and some right-wing outlets, while research and fact-checkers indicate immigrants contribute more to the state and use public health services less than nationals.

Read at www.thelocal.es